Downtown area becomes a magnet for development

Track record of success keeps businesses coming

A healthy mix of retail, restaurants, service-oriented businesses, entertainment, cultural attractions and outdoor opportunities is making Naperville's downtown a development magnet.

Developers are drawn to the downtown not only because of its balanced makeup, but also because of the community's upper-middle class demographics, strong store sales and a track record of success in spite of nearby suburban shopping malls.

"My general sense is that it is one of the most vibrant downtowns in the Midwest," said Christine Jefferies, president of the Naperville Development Partnership, a public-private economic development organization. "It runs at nearly full capacity."

In the coming months, projects in Naperville's downtown area will add shopping, restaurants, office space and residential possibilities. Despite the U.S. economic downturn, developers will pour millions into projects in a thriving area.

Dwight and Ruth Yackley of BBM Inc. in Naperville are banking on the continued vitality. The couple has put together the $40 million Main Street Promenade project, a three-story, 128,000-square-foot building at 55 S. Main St. that will have stores, office space and condos. The Naperville Area Chamber of Commerce has taken 7,000 square feet in the structure.

On the building's lower level, the Yackleys plan to have six stores and two restaurants. Stores that have announced plans to locate in the building are Coldwater Creek, J. Jill, Ann Taylor Loft and gourmet cooking store Sur La Table. The stores are scheduled to open in the fall; restaurant tenants are not decided.

There will be 80,000 square feet of office space on the second and third floors.

"We find that people see the benefit of having their offices in the downtown," Dwight Yackley said. "It offers their employees so much more in terms of lifestyle."

The Yackleys' development includes 30 luxury condominiums, which will have 1,800 to 3,200 square feet of space and two underground parking spaces each. Prices have not been set on the condos, which are scheduled to be added in two structures beginning next year.

The Yackleys are not newcomers to Naperville's development scene. The couple put together the Washington Corners development at Washington Street and Jackson Avenue, which opened in 1998 and includes retailers Barnes & Noble and Restoration Hardware and about 20,000 square feet of office space.

At Washington and Van Buren Avenue, construction is under way on the $3 million Van Buren Place project, a 23,000-square-foot brick and stone building. Jim Kubal, a longtime Naperville resident and owner of K2 Development, has owned the property for more than 10 years and is steering the development.

"As the downtown developed into a more serious destination point, it became economically advantageous to develop it," Kubal said. "Now, downtown Naperville is very much alive in the evening."

Kubal is leaning toward putting a restaurant on the first floor.

"We are talking to quite a few different tenants," he said. "We've talked to a lot of fast-food restaurateurs, but we are not particularly interested in fast food. We are looking for something that has more appeal to the night life."

Kubal said it is uncertain what will go into the second floor, but he said much of the third floor will be occupied by Century 21 Team, a real estate firm in which he is a vice president.

Across the street from Van Buren Place, at the southwest corner of Van Buren and Washington, Norman A. Rubin & Associates has proposed knocking down a gas station and a two-story building to build a 20,500-square-foot single-story commercial building with five or six storefronts. No tenants have been named so far, and construction is scheduled to start during the spring or summer, a company representative said.

This fall, local residents will see construction begin on a 49-unit senior apartment complex with a 100-seat or more family-style restaurant on its first floor on Main Street between Van Buren and Jefferson Avenues. The four-story, 56,000-square-foot senior residence will take the space occupied by Tasty Bakery, California Closets and Elgin Clock Repair.

"Every one of our buildings has been in a downtown," said David Sanders, president of Missouri-based HPD Cambridge Inc., one of the developers of the project. "Naperville is wonderful. Within a three- or four-block area, there are a ton of things to do, and that is going to make for a very full lifestyle for anyone who lives there."

HPD Cambridge is developing the senior community with Naperville-based Moser Enterprises Inc. and Dan Dolan with Dolan & Murphy in Aurora. Sanders said leasing has begun, and construction will start in the fall.

New development has raised concerns about parking in the downtown. But downtown advocates point to the free 580-vehicle parking deck at Washington and Van Buren. Downtown parking has been free since the mid-1970s, and more than 2,200 spaces are available.